Inhumanity
by Kiseichew
Summary: It's not easy being green. [Snippets from the lives of various Parasites.]
1. (Mis)Fortune

Goto didn't quite understand why Tamura insisted he mimic all of the human lifestyle when he had little need of money or luxury commodities, but he assumed she knew things he didn't, which was why he was currently wasting his time in line at a bank when he had a meeting to get to.

The doors suddenly slammed open and several people streamed in, all wearing dark face-concealing masks. He blinked as they completely disregarded the line and shoved their way to the front with guns in hand.

"Everybody get down on the ground!" one shouted. "This is a stick-up!"

Oh. Looks like he was going to be delayed even longer. He checked the clock on the wall and frowned.

He didn't have time for this.

Goto calmly walked over the prone bodies, ignored the men pointing their little pistols, strode up to the cowering bank teller and calmly said, "I need to deposit a check." Before he could pull it out, one of the robbers interrupted him.

"Oy! What do you think you're doing?" The criminal in question moved up beside him and shoved a pistol against the center of his chest. "Listen here, you fancy businessmen think you're so high and mighty but if you don't get down on the ground right now I'll put you in your place with a bullet through the heart!"

"Really," Goto deadpanned, looking down at the would-be robber and his gun. "I highly doubt it."

"What are you doing?" the bank teller whispered hoarsely. "Don't try to be a hero-"

"Shut up," the criminal snarled and momentarily pointed the gun at the teller. He squeaked, ducking out of sight.

"A hero?" Goto repeated. A hero was someone who saved others from dying. He certainly didn't care about the lives of anyone else in the building.

"Are you mocking me?" The man's voice seethed with rage as he turned the pistol back at Goto, who briefly pondered whether he shouldn't have grabbed the gun while its owner was distracted. "Lie down on the floor with your hands behind your head, or I shoot."

Goto simply frowned, genuinely confused. "Why are you focusing on me instead of the—"

A gunshot interrupted him. He craned his head down and stared curiously at the hole in his chest, ignoring the shrieks and whimpers around him. It was unpleasant having a bullet stuck in him, but nothing he couldn't handle. The more pressing matter was his shirt and tie which both now had bullet holes and were covered in soot. At least his jacket didn't need to be replaced.

He looked back up at the quickly paling man. Although he couldn't display obvious Parasite abilities, high strength wasn't exactly Parasite-only. With a cruel grin, Goto shot his hand out and gripped the robber's right wrist before he could escape, then crushed it hard enough to feel bones cracking under the other man's skin as he screamed in agony and dropped the gun from his now-useless hand. As he fell to his knees Goto wrapped his other hand around the criminal's neck, calmly lifted the offender off the ground and squeezed his hand. He barely noticed the choking noises and feeble kicks from his captive attempting to get free.

Then something cracked under his fingers. The man almost instantly fell limp in his grip. He paused, dropped the body and frowned when it crumpled in a lifeless heap at his feet.

Ah, he'd accidentally broken the man's spinal cord. Goto flexed his right hand, decided that he needed more piano practice later, and turned back towards the bank teller without concern. Humans were just so fragile.

"Can you deposit this for me now?" he asked, handing his check over to the staring man.

The teller stuttered and nodded rapidly as he took the check. Goto watched while the other man fumbled with it, the dead silence around them barely impacted by the sound of machinery working and buttons being pressed. Finally the employee offered him a receipt with shaking hands. He sedately took it, folded it up and placed it in one of his coat pockets, then glanced at the corpse, not wanting to waste fresh meat.

Everyone seemed to move slightly away as Goto stooped down. "W-what are you doing?" stuttered one of the other hostages, watching him toss the dead body over his shoulder carelessly.

As he strode out of the bank, he answered without even a look back at the myriad of guns and stares pointed at him. "I'm disposing of the body, of course."


	2. Unpalatable

"Shimada-kun?"

The disguised Parasite scowled. "What do you want?" he asked brusquely, not bothering to look up from the unappetizing vegetable matter on his plate.

After a short moment of silence the female voice replied, "May I sit with you?" Her voice was somewhat hesitant as if taken aback by his tone. He didn't answer, knowing that she would probably sit whether he agreed or refused.

Shimada had little patience for human subtleties in communication, much less for people pestering him needlessly, but he'd found that outright denial rarely helped when he had to deal with the same people every day. If anything it tended to draw even more attention towards him.

As he had guessed, the vaguely familiar girl sat down right beside him and opened up her own lunchbox. He barely paid her any attention when she introduced herself as Nakano and commented that they shared their class, letting his silence show how welcome he considered her. Despite his lack of response she didn't seem to care, already beginning to chatter on about something insignificant without another word to him.

Part of Shimada's irritation was due to Izumi's presence keeping him from several easy meals. Had it not been for the failure Shimada could have taken advantage of his popularity to lure at least a student or two for himself, such as this Nakano. Instead, he had to shut down his instincts for what felt like no profit for himself and travel long distances for a mere chance to find food. Although he supposed Tamura wouldn't be pleased if he had to relocate somewhere else and redo the experiment.

"Aren't you hungry, Shimada-kun?"

Shimada glared at her, then at his nearly untouched lunch. Human food was so unsatisfying. How could Tamura think of subsisting entirely on it? Sure, the nutrients were good, but it had no substance. It simply fell apart in his mouth.

"I don't feel like eating," he replied curtly.

"Oh." The human girl picked at her own food, occasionally glancing at him even as he continued to tune out her voice.

Then he blinked, the telltale sensation of another Parasite's presence garnering his attention. He turned his head, faintly annoyed that he couldn't simply form an eye in the back of his head, and watched as Izumi and some other humans sat down at one of the cafeteria tables. Again the hand's signal was strangely faint. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, watching as Izumi acted completely human, no sign of the Parasite visible to Shimada's eyes.

"Shimada-kun?" Nakano said suddenly.

He glanced over. "What?"

"Do you like Izumi-kun?"

Slightly thrown off by the strange question, he paused. "I suppose. I had hoped to make friends with him."

"That's it?" She stared at him with her eyebrows lifted. "You always seem to be paying attention to him_—_not that it's_—_um_—_"

Shimada frowned. Was it that noticeable?

After Nakano floundered a bit, she breathed in deeply and continued. "Do you know him from outside of school? I heard the first day you came here he shouted at you, or something." She stopped and looked at him expectantly, evidently waiting for him to say something.

After a few seconds Shimada reluctantly replied. "I learned of him from someone else." He didn't feel like saying more.

"Ah." She fidgeted for a few moments. "Well, you never really talk to anyone else, don't seem interested in much other than sports. Some of us thought you didn't want to be friends with anybody at all. So I guess you're just shy?" Once she'd regained her momentum the girl rambled on, not seeming to realize that Shimada had turned away from her and towards Izumi again. "Besides, these rumors about you are just ridiculous_—_"

"I'm not shy," Shimada finally interrupted, sneering faintly at the idea that he would want to be friends with any normal human. Coexistence meant tolerance, not welcome. And his patience only went so far.

His eyes flicked back to Nakano. "What rumors?"

She shrugged, looking somewhat pink-cheeked. "They're nothing. Just something about, uh, you know, that you're carrying the torch for, um, Izumi-kun." As she spoke her voice lowered until it was almost inaudible.

"Carrying a torch?" Was that a saying? "What do you mean?"

"Nevermind, it's not important," Nakano said hurriedly and stood up, walking quickly away with her cheeks still pink in color.

Shimada shrugged, less concerned and more glad that she'd finally stopped bothering him. He'd ask Tamura about the phrase if he remembered it later. But perhaps he should be more subtle in keeping an eye on Izumi.

With one last glance at the human-Parasite hybrid, Shimada returned to glaring at the colorful mess that was meant to be his lunch.


	3. Envious

"I envy you, you know."

Tamura looked up from her fellow Parasites' documents, where Hirokawa was fiddling with some other papers at his own desk.

"Why?" she asked.

Hirokawa put down his papers and stared directly into her eyes. "Because you all know what you were born for. What you were made to do. Humans don't have that. If we have the opportunity, we search for years and years to find what life means for us. Many never get the chance at all, let alone find it. But you know exactly what you were meant to do." Then he sighed and leaned back. "I haven't a clue what I'm here for," he muttered. Tamura guessed he hadn't intended for her to hear that.

For another few moments she eyed him, internalizing his words. "What _are_ we here for?"

"For the protection of the Earth against the human race, of course." Without even glancing at her he said this in a matter-of-fact tone, like he didn't hear the absurdity in his own statement. Tamura suspected he actually didn't.

"Is that all?"

"Hm?" Hirokawa sat up, meeting her eyes again.

"Is that all we can do? Kill humans?" She thought back to the _human_ child she'd given birth to. "We can't create more of our own. We have so little knowledge of ourselves, let alone what humans are." And humans had love, hate, sadness, happiness, empathy, antipathy, and more. Parasites had only anger, fear, hunger, apathy.

Tamura continued, "Humans expanded over the Earth by bypassing every biological shortcoming they have. According to technology, they're only developing faster over time." She paused and turned towards the window, looking outside at the buildings that pierced the horizon. "You did all this without any orders telling you what to do. We will die off before we get the opportunity, and all we were meant to do is try to drag your species down."

For a moment the room was silent.

Then Tamura looked back at the human behind her. "I envy you."


	4. Cooperation

Tamiya paused as a distant signal came into her awareness. It felt frustrated and hungry, yet wasn't moving. Curious, she altered her path and continued on until she stopped at the porch of a little house. The door was unfortunately locked, and there were far too many people around for her to break it down.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she walked behind the house and out of sight of the street, then halted right beneath a low window. She could just smash it open, but she had no wish to deal with glass shards inside her. After examining it for a moment she split off a part of her into a long rope and slid it in a gap of the window panes, wrenching them open forcefully.

Immediately several smells wafted through the air: a mix of old blood, urine and other bodily fluids, as well as the faint odor of rotting flesh. Tamiya gripped the windowsill and climbed inside.

Her heels clicked on the clean floor and she glanced over the house, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The signal she was interested in was coming from further within. She followed it into a bedroom, looking down at the scraps of flesh and dried blood scattered on the floor, then up at the person—her species—lying half-in half-out of the bed. It was an old desiccated-looking man, save for the twisted eyes on stalks and sharp blades that emerged from his neck and dug into the floor.

"What do you want?" a mouth somewhere asked harshly.

Tamiya tilted her head. "Why aren't you getting food?"

"I can't. My body's dying and won't obey me, and I already ate the other humans who lived here. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Of course." She stepped over the remains and hauled the other Parasite onto her shoulder. As she walked towards the exit she noticed the smell of excretory matter coming from him. "You're unable to control your bodily functions?"

"I told you, I can't control the human part at all. There's prey outside, isn't there?" Tamiya tensed as his tendrils began to move frantically, already reaching for the open window.

"Stop that. I need you to look human." He growled but complied, his blades and teeth merging back together as gray strands sprouted from the top of his head. Still distrustful, Tamiya kept an eye open in the back of her head, watching his movements carefully as she slowly unlocked and opened the front door.

Then she slammed it shut an instant before a tentacle crashed into it and left a splintered dent. The Parasite's wrinkled face glared from behind her. "Let me feed," he snapped. "I haven't eaten in days."

She didn't care. "Be a bit more patient. You can wait another hour. But if you threaten our safety, I will not hesitate to kill you." As evidence she twisted part of her hair into a blade-edged rope and pointed it directly at his throat.

He snarled and bared sharp teeth, but replied, "Doesn't matter. I can't hunt anyway."

"Then I'll bring live prey to you." The Parasite froze and stared at her. "Are you going to behave?" she asked. After a long pause, he nodded. She pulled back her blade but continued to watch him warily when she opened the door once again. True to his word he didn't move this time, even as she walked into the street.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked suddenly. "I thought you'd just take me out and leave me somewhere."

As Tamiya walked she turned her head and answered in a low voice, "I have an idea that you can help me with." One that Shinichi Izumi and his friend had given her. "You don't want to stay like this, do you?"

"Of course not. But what else can I do?"

"You could join a different body."

The Parasite stared. "...that's possible?"

"As long as your new host body doesn't reject you, then yes." He fell silent at her answer. She strode onward, ignoring the stares she was getting from the people passing by.

"Er, excuse me."

Without bothering to stop Tamiya glanced over at the business suited human male who'd spoken up. "Yes?"

"Is he alright?" The man gestured vaguely towards her shoulder.

She mimicked a pleasant smile that she'd seen on television, pressing down on the other Parasite's back in warning when she felt him shift around. "He's fine. He just needs someone to take care of him."

"...I see." The man had started to follow her and rubbed his neck as he spoke—an indication of nervousness, perhaps. "Um, do you need help? I can carry your, er, father for you."

Tamiya smirked slightly when he assumed the two of them were family. Although they were in a sense related, it was no more than any two humans were. A huff from the body she held indicated the other Parasite felt the same way. But this human's willingness to aid them solved one of their other problems.

"He is not that heavy," she told the man trailing behind her. "However, I would like your help with something else if you have the time."

"Of course!" he replied energetically. Tamiya smiled, already planning where to dispose of his body.


	5. Taste Test

"We should buy some Spam."

Kusano glanced up from his notes at Miki. "What is Spam?" he asked warily. The last time he'd followed the other Parasite's suggestions they'd woken in a stranger's apartment with the carpeting looking like something from a foreign horror movie, blood and white dust and bottles that formerly held alcohol arranged in a vaguely inkblot shape. No sign of the owner, though. Except for all that blood on the carpet. And their clothes.

He'd liked his old outfit, damn it. It had taken him days to find a new set of clothes that looked similar.

"It's this kind of squished ham cube that humans say tastes and feels a lot like human meat." Miki waved his hands around, the yo-yo he'd been using as movement practice swinging around haphazardly. Kusano leaned out of the way before it could smack him in the face.

"And how would they know that? Humans don't eat human meat."

Miki shrugged. "I guess some of them do. Cannibalism's a thing, isn't it? I mean so is Kuru, but as long as they don't eat the brain everything's good."

Kusano could feel Miki's thought processes running, a succession of starts and stops and dizzying turns along the way. It didn't mean he could decipher those thoughts, and he was sure if he was connected directly to Miki he'd feel like he was trapped in a vehicle about as well-controlled as the yo-yo currently looping wildly through the air was. No wonder the other Parasites in there found it hard to give up control even in their sleep.

Closing his eyes, he forcibly focused on what Miki was actually saying. "Why exactly are you researching human cannibalism? And what the hell is Kuru?"

"Well, Tamura-san's trying to live completely on human food instead of eating humans, and I thought if I found something that tasted almost like humans it'd be more satisfying than eating plants all day." Miki's teeth were white and flat and perfectly aligned in a wide grin that showed off about as much gum as ivory. "Also Kuru is a brain protein disease thing that happens when humans eat brains."

Kusano blinked. "That actually sounds like a good idea. The human meat substitute I mean, not Kuru." Not that Parasites had any problems eating human brains, even if there were skulls in the way.

Somehow, Miki's grin widened further. Kusano had to wonder if he was morphing his facial structure because humans could not possibly stretch their cheeks that far. "I know! And the best part is Spam's already cooked and doesn't have blood or anything in it, so I can just eat it whenever I want without looking weird."

"Wait." Kusano held up a hand, something bothering him. "If Spam is already cooked, it's not going to taste like fresh humans."

Miki dropped his expression the other way, lips turned down. "Damn. I guess you're right." Then he pursed his lips, looking contemplative. "I wonder what cooked humans taste like. You think Tamura-san knows?"

"Unlikely. She doesn't even want to eat humans at all." Kusano did, however, and like Miki he was also curious to see if cooked human tasted as good as raw human did. And he knew Miki knew this too, because he could see another idea beginning to develop at the same rate as the new smile on the other's face.

"All right, I know what to do," Miki said. "We'll need some wine, blue cheese, paper towels, regular towels, Spam, a dog..."

Kusano just sighed.

* * *

"Want some?" Miki offered cheerfully, scooping out some Spam from the can.

Hirokawa leaned away from the pink, jelly-like flesh-in-a-box and barely managed to conceal his grimace of horrified disgust. "No, thank you."


End file.
